II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3909 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to auction spectrum 

in the band between 1.3 gigahertz and 13.2 gigahertz, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 12, 2024 

Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mr. THUNE, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to auction spectrum in the band between 1.3 gigahertz and 

13.2 gigahertz, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spectrum Pipeline Act 

5 of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF SPECTRUM FOR REALLOCA7 TION AND AUCTION. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON2 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con3 gress’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

5 and Transportation of the Senate; and 

6 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com7 merce of the House of Representatives. 

8 (2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist9 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

10 Commerce for Communications and Information. 

11 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

12 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

13 (4) COVERED BAND.—The term ‘‘covered 

14 band’’ means the band of frequencies between 1.3 

15 gigahertz and 13.2 gigahertz. 

16 (5) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en17 tity’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

18 113(l) of the National Telecommunications and In19 formation Administration Organization Act (47 

20 U.S.C. 923(l)). 

21 (6) FULL-POWER COMMERCIAL LICENSED USE

22 CASES.—The term ‘‘full-power commercial licensed 

23 use cases’’ means flexible use wireless broadband 

24 services with base station power levels sufficient for 

25 high-power, high-density, and wide-area commercial 


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1 mobile services, consistent with the service rules 

2 under part 27 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula3 tions, or any successor regulations, for wireless 

4 broadband deployments throughout the covered 

5 band. 

6 (b) IDENTIFICATION FOR REALLOCATION.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary, in 

8 consultation with the Commission, shall identify not 

9 less than 2500 megahertz of spectrum in the covered 

10 band, that as of the date of enactment of this Act 

11 is allocated for Federal use or for shared Federal 

12 and non-Federal use, for reallocation for non-Fed13 eral use, shared Federal and non-Federal use, or a 

14 combination thereof, including not less than 1250 

15 megahertz for full-power commercial licensed use 

16 cases. 

17 (2) SCHEDULE.—The Assistant Secretary shall 

18 identify the spectrum under paragraph (1) according 

19 to the following schedule: 

20 (A) Not later than 2 years after the date 

21 of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Sec22 retary shall identify not less than 1250 mega23 hertz of spectrum. 

24 (B) Not later than 5 years after the date 

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1 retary shall identify any remaining spectrum re2 quired to be identified under paragraph (1) 

3 after compliance with subparagraph (A) of this 

4 paragraph. 

5 (c) AUCTIONS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the spec7 trum identified for reallocation under subsection (b) 

8 for commercial licensed use, the Commission shall 

9 grant licenses through systems of competitive bid10 ding for not less than 1250 megahertz of the spec11 trum for full-power commercial licensed use cases. 

12 (2) SCHEDULE.—The Commission shall auction 

13 the spectrum under paragraph (1) according to the 

14 following schedule: 

15 (A) Not later than 3 years after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

17 complete 1 or more systems of competitive bid18 ding for not less than 600 megahertz of the 

19 spectrum. 

20 (B) Not later than 6 years after the date 

21 of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

22 complete 1 or more systems of competitive bid23 ding for any remaining spectrum required to be 

24 auctioned under paragraph (1) after compliance 

25 with subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. 


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1 (d) UNLICENSED USE.—Not later than 2 years after 

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

3 make available on an unlicensed basis not less than 125 

4 megahertz of the spectrum in the covered band. 

5 (e) LICENSED OR UNLICENSED USE.—Not later than 

6 8 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Com7 mission shall make available for use on a licensed or unli8 censed basis any remaining spectrum that is— 

9 (1) identified under subsection (b); and 

10 (2) not— 

11 (A) auctioned under subsection (c); or 

12 (B) made available on an unlicensed basis 

13 under subsection (d). 

14 (f) AUCTION PROCEEDS TO COVER 110 PERCENT OF

15 FEDERAL RELOCATION OR SHARING COSTS.—Nothing in 

16 this subsection shall be construed to relieve the Commis17 sion from the requirements under section 309(j)(16)(B) 

18 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

19 309(j)(16)(B)). 

20 (g) AUCTION AUTHORITY.—Section 309(j)(11) of the 

21 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is 

22 amended— 

23 (1) by striking ‘‘grant a license or permit under 

24 this subsection shall expire March 9, 2023’’ and in25 serting ‘‘complete a system of competitive bidding 


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1 under this subsection shall expire September 30, 

2 2027’’; 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘and with respect to’’ and in4 serting ‘‘with respect to’’; and 

5 (3) by inserting before the period at the end the 

6 following: ‘‘, and with respect to the electromagnetic 

7 spectrum in the covered band (as defined in section 

8 2(a) of the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2024), such 

9 authority shall expire on the date that is 8 years 

10 after the date of enactment of that Act’’. 

11 (h) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND QUARTERLY

12 BRIEFINGS.— 

13 (1) NTIA PROGRESS REPORT ON SPECTRUM

14 IDENTIFICATION.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—On each date as of 

16 which the Assistant Secretary, in consultation 

17 with the Commission, has identified the quan18 tity of spectrum required under subparagraph 

19 (A) or (B), respectively, of subsection (b)(2), 

20 the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the ap21 propriate committees of Congress a report de22 tailing the findings and conclusions that the As23 sistant Secretary used to support the identifica24 tion. 


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1 (B) CONTENTS.—The Assistant Secretary 

2 shall include in each report submitted under 

3 subparagraph (A)— 

4 (i) an analysis of the spectrum identi5 fied; and 

6 (ii) the Federal entities with which 

7 the Assistant Secretary coordinated re8 garding the spectrum identified. 

9 (C) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report re10 quired under subparagraph (A) shall be sub11 mitted in unclassified form, but may contain a 

12 classified annex. 

13 (2) NTIA AND FCC REPORTS ON REALLOCA14 TION OF SPECTRUM IDENTIFIED.— 

15 (A) INITIAL PROGRESS REPORT.—Not 

16 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 

17 this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in consulta18 tion with the Commission, shall submit to the 

19 appropriate committees of Congress a report on 

20 the progress of the Assistant Secretary in iden21 tifying spectrum in the covered band for re22 allocation under subsection (b) that includes— 

23 (i) an assessment of the operations of 

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1 ties that operate in the spectrum in the 

2 covered band; and 

3 (ii) a preliminary analysis of which 

4 portions of the covered band are being con5 sidered for reallocation in accordance with 

6 subsection (b)(1). 

7 (B) REPORTS ON 2 TRANCHES OF IDENTI8 FIED SPECTRUM.—Not later than 60 days after 

9 each date as of which the Assistant Secretary, 

10 in consultation with the Commission, has iden11 tified the quantity of spectrum required under 

12 subparagraph (A) or (B), respectively, of sub13 section (b)(2), the Assistant Secretary, in con14 sultation with the Commission, shall submit to 

15 the appropriate committees of Congress a re16 port that includes— 

17 (i) an assessment of the operations of 

18 the Federal entities and non-Federal enti19 ties that operate in the applicable spec20 trum, current as of the date of the submis21 sion of the report; 

22 (ii) the steps the President has taken 

23 to begin the process of withdrawing or 

24 modifying the assignments of Federal enti25 ties in the covered band as necessary for 


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1 the Commission to begin and complete the 

2 systems of competitive bidding under sub3 section (c); 

4 (iii) an estimate of the funding re5 quired for the relocation or sharing costs 

6 (as defined in section 923(g)(3) of the Na7 tional Telecommunications and Informa8 tion Administration Organization Act (47 

9 U.S.C. 923(g)(3))) expected to be incurred 

10 by the Federal entities described in clause 

11 (ii) in connection with the reallocation of 

12 the applicable spectrum; and 

13 (iv) steps the Assistant Secretary is 

14 taking to ensure global harmonization with 

15 the spectrum to be reallocated. 

16 (C) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report re17 quired under this paragraph shall be submitted 

18 in unclassified form, but may contain a classi19 fied annex. 

20 (3) ANNUAL BRIEFINGS.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, and an23 nually thereafter until the date that is 10 years 

24 after such date of enactment, the Assistant Sec25 retary and the Chairman of the Commission 


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1 shall provide the appropriate committees of 

2 Congress with a briefing on the progress of the 

3 Assistant Secretary and the Chairman in com4 plying with the requirements of this section. 

5 (B) CONTENTS.—The Assistant Secretary 

6 and the Chairman of the Commission shall in7 clude in each briefing under subparagraph 

8 (A)— 

9 (i) an update on the specific fre10 quencies of spectrum under consideration 

11 or that have been identified to meet the re12 quirements of subsection (b); 

13 (ii) an explanation of the Federal en14 tities and non-Federal entities that operate 

15 on the frequencies described in clause (i) 

16 and the specific services or systems utilized 

17 by those entities on those frequencies; 

18 (iii) the extent to which Federal enti19 ties are cooperating with the efforts of the 

20 Assistant Secretary and the Chairman of 

21 the Commission to comply with the re22 quirements of this Act; 

23 (iv) an update on the progress of the 

24 systems of competitive bidding required by 

25 subsection (c); and 


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1 (v) any additional information related 

2 to compliance with this Act by the Assist3 ant Secretary and the Chairman. 

4 (C) FORM OF BRIEFING.—Any classified 

5 information that would otherwise be provided in 

6 a briefing under subparagraph (A) shall be pro7 vided in a separate classified briefing. 

8 SEC. 3. SPECTRUM RELOCATION FUND MODERNIZATION. 

9 (a) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION TIMELINES.— 

10 Section 118 of the National Telecommunications and In11 formation Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 

12 928) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (d)(2)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘30 

15 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 days’’; and 

16 (B) in the matter following subparagraph 

17 (C), by striking ‘‘30 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 

18 days’’; 

19 (2) in subsection (f)(2)(B)(iv), by striking ‘‘30 

20 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 days’’; and 

21 (3) in subsection (g)(2)(D)(ii), by striking ‘‘60 

22 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 days’’. 

23 (b) COMPARABLE CAPABILITY.—Section 113(g)(3) of 

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1 ministration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(3)) is 

2 amended— 

3 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 

4 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

5 inserting a semicolon; 

6 (B) in clause (v), by striking the period at 

7 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(vi) the costs associated with replac10 ing systems and equipment with state-of11 the-art systems and equipment, including 

12 systems and equipment with additional 

13 functions, only if the state-of-the-art sys14 tems and equipment allow for the realloca15 tion of significantly more valuable spec16 trum frequencies from Federal use to ex17 clusive non-Federal use or to shared Fed18 eral and non-Federal use than would be re19 allocated if systems and equipment were 

20 replaced with comparable systems and 

21 equipment or systems and equipment with 

22 incidental increases in functionality, pro23 vided the costs would not jeopardize the 

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1 sion, to reallocate eligible spectrum fre2 quencies from Federal use to exclusive 

3 non-Federal use or to shared use.’’; and 

4 (2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘inci5 dental’’. 

Æ 


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